Sing the Sorrow
by Cyrus-Oz
Summary: Oz is a mutant who in many ways was tormented in her psat. she finds her family and a new love. the X-Men offer to help her, she fights her battles and how does it end? mysteries and betrayal, love and ego's and new families. read and review please.
1. Default Chapter

Prologue  
  
Her hair was short, black and spiky, her clothes were a tattered mess and barely clung onto her lean, cat-like build. Her eyes were yellow with red iris's that had black and blue flecks; the pupils were thin black slits.  
She made it into her small apartment and collapsed on the couch. She looked around and glared at her small boom box. It shuddered and turned on, Linkin Park's "Somewhere I Belong" played loudly. She smiled and passed out.  
  
*** *** *** ***  
  
"She's a teleporter, telekinetic and telepathetic to a certain limit. She also can transform, hide in human form."  
"So how are we supposed to find her?"  
"Her eyes give her away, no matter what she transforms into her eyes always remain the same. Still snake-like."  
"Is there anything else about her Professor that we should know about before we go after her?"  
"She's quick to challenge people, she's a really good fighter from what I have picked up so far. She works as a carpenter-for-hire and spends most of her free time in the park by the lake. She lives in a small apartment, very small; she loves her privacy and keeps a low profile on herself. She'll practically go out on a limb for anyone, even if she doesn't even know them, but she does not trust anybody."  
"Dishes out good deeds and then leaves? Expects nothing in return?"  
"Yes Scott, that is what she does."  
"She doesn't sound too hard to get to come here."  
"Don't under estimate her Logan, she is very clever."  
"Right Professor."  
"She lives out there in Albuquerque, so you can take the jet or whatever you like."  
Scott nodded and left the room. Logan followed.  
  
One  
  
Faint By Linkin Park  
  
I am a little bit of loneliness a little bit of disregard  
  
Handful of complaints but I can't help the fact that everybody can see  
  
these scars  
  
I am what I want you to want what I want you to feel  
  
But it's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you, to just believe  
  
this is real  
  
So I let go, watching you, turn your back like you always do  
  
Face away and pretend that I'm not  
  
But I'll be here cause you want what I've got  
  
(I can't feel the way I did before)  
  
(Don't turn your back on me)  
  
(I won't be ignored)  
  
(Time won't heal this damage anymore)  
  
(Don't turn your back on me)  
  
(I won't be ignored)  
  
I am a little bit insecure a little unconfident  
  
Cause you don't understand I do what I can but sometimes I don't make  
  
sense  
  
I say what you never wanna say but I've never had a doubt  
  
It's like no matter what I do I can't convince you for once just to hear  
  
me out  
  
So I let go watching you turn your back like you always do  
  
Face away and pretend that I'm not  
  
But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got  
  
(I can't feel the way I did before)  
  
(Don't turn your back on me)  
  
(I won't be ignored)  
  
(Time won't heal this damage anymore)  
  
(Don't turn your back on me)  
  
(I won't be ignored)  
  
(Now)  
  
(Hear me out now)  
  
(You're gonna listen to me, like it or not)  
  
(Right now)  
  
(Hear me out now)  
  
(You're gonna listen to me, like it or not)  
  
(Right now)  
  
(I can't feel the way I did before)  
  
(Don't turn your back on me)  
  
(I won't be ignored)  
  
(I can't feel the way I did before)  
  
(Don't turn your back on me)  
  
(I won't be ignored)  
  
(Time won't heal this damage anymore)  
  
(Don't turn your back on me)  
  
(I won't be ignored)  
  
(I can't feel the way I did before)  
  
(Don't turn your back on me)  
  
(I won't be ignored)  
  
(Time won't heal this damage anymore)  
  
(Don't turn your back on me)  
  
(I won't be ignored)  
  
I can't feel  
  
I won't be ignored  
  
Time won't heal  
  
Don't turn your back on me  
  
I won't be ignored  
  
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~  
  
There was a sharp knock at the door. She looked up from the couch and spotted the VCR clock, it flashed three sixteen in the morning. The knocking persisted. She muttered a curse before she got up and walked to the front door. She looked in the peephole and spotted two men she didn't recognize.  
"Who is it?"  
"We're here to talk to Oz Conner."  
She rolled her eyes. "You do realize it is past three right?"  
Logan looked over at Scott. "Is it?"  
Scott shrugged. "Sorry for the lateness of the night but may we please speak to Oz?"  
"Why can't people let other people sleep?" Oz pounded the door then flipped the locks and opened the door. "What the bloody fuck do you two want?"  
"Are you Oz?" Scott asked.  
"Well no shit."  
"May we come in?" Logan asked.  
She looked them both up and down then nodded. "Fine, you wouldn't go away anyway."  
"Probably right." Scott nodded as he walked in.  
They sat on the couch and looked around the tiny apartment. She walked to the back where the small bathroom was; she ran the shower and stepped in.  
Scott and Logan looked at each other.  
"How are we going to get her over there?" Logan asked. "Just ask her?"  
"Why not?" Scott shrugged. "Or we could kidnap her."  
She got out and wrapped a large black towel around her body and walked out to her closet.  
"So what do you two want?"  
"We want to ask if you would be willing to accompany us back to New York."  
"Hell No." she said fishing into the closet for new clothes. "I have got a job here, I have a big project coming up that I cannot afford to miss and I have a damn promise to keep to a little girl."  
"Well, I suppose we could stay here and wait for a few days." Scott said.  
Oz turned and looked at them. "Excuse me? Stay here? I know you don't mean staying here as in my apartment."  
"Well why not?" Scott asked.  
Oz grabbed a dagger from a coat pocket and chucked it at him. Logan reached out in front of him and grabbed it by the handle; the blade was three inches from Scott's heart.  
She grabbed the clothes and walked back to the bathroom. She emerged a few moments later wearing a skin tight, spaghetti strap, black tang top and baggy black jeans that were hemmed at the waist to fit her. She walked over the to the front door and pulled on her black boots that buckled over her ankles.  
"Now if you two excuse me I am going out for some breakfast." She opened the door and pointed out.  
"Nice going Scott." Logan nodded and they left.  
Oz slammed the door behind her and jogged down the hall and out of sight.  
"She is very difficult." Scott said.  
"Nonsense, you are having a tough time because you lost Jean, go on home, I'll persuade her."  
Scott watched Logan for a moment then got back into the jet, which was parked in the field behind the apartments, and went back to New York.  
"Now," Logan sighed. "To find Oz."  
  
The bells on the door to the 24/7 diner jingled softly as Oz walked in. Logan stood under a streetlamp across the street.  
"Oz, I thought you went to see a shrink about your insomnia." The waitress said.  
"I did?" Oz stood there a moment thinking. "Oh! I did!" She nodded. "Jeffries."  
"Yeah, him, did he help you?"  
"Does watering a stone help it grow?" she took a seat at the bar as the waitress smiled shaking her head. "No, actually I have a good reason for being up this time. You see that man across the street?" she said without looking over at him. "Him and a friend of his came over to my apartment earlier wanting to talk to me. They wanted me to go to New York with them."  
"Why?"  
"Eh," she shrugged. "Beats the bloody hell out of me why, but I said no, you know I have those jobs to keep and that-"  
"Promise!" the woman smiled. "So what are you going to do?"  
"I told her I would sing at the park in that pavilion tomorrow night."  
"Great! What song?"  
Oz smiled wickedly. "Mudvayne's Severed."  
"No, not hard rock."  
Oz shrugged and chuckled. "Hey, she said any song, and I like Mudvayne."  
"Why not Linkin Park or AFI?"  
"Because I have this song's lyrics in my apartment and I do not want to go to the library and get on the Internet and look up song lyrics."  
"Lazy."  
"No, I would have been lazy if I didn't get up and answer the door this morning."  
"No, that would have been smart." The woman said filling up a coffee cup and breaking out a plate of toast. "Three in the morning all sorts of lunatics are running ape shit in the streets, what if you have opened it and some weirdo attacked you?"  
She sipped her coffee and shrugged. "I don't know, I probably would have poked their eyes out and killed them."  
The woman spotted another shadow coming toward the diner. "Well, that would have been murder."  
"No," the front door jingled, Oz waved at the newcomer. "It's not murder if it is self-defense, right Jak?"  
"Right." The teenage boy nodded. "What was the question?"  
"Doesn't anybody sleep around here?"  
"What does sleep and murder and self-defense have to do with one another?" the boy asked.  
"Never mind." Oz smiled. "Toast?"  
"Ooh, thank you Oz." He spread a slice of toast thickly with blackberry jam and bit into it. "Hey, who's El Creepy standing by the post over there?"  
"I don't know his name," Oz said. "But the bastard woke me up this morning about three sixteen."  
"Three sixteen." The boy echoed. "Damn luck."  
Oz shrugged. "O-well, Jason likes it when I get into work early. Maybe I'll shock him to death by being there at four."  
"Will Jason be there at four?" the woman asked.  
"He is always saying that he is." Oz smiled. "I think today is the day we fin out if he tells the truth or is a bull shitter." She tossed a dollar on the counter and left.  
"Ten says he's a bull shitter." Jak said.  
"You're on."  
  
"You didn't even eat anything." Logan said as she passed by.  
"Are you stalking me?" she glared at him.  
"If I said yes?"  
She stopped walking and glared at him. "Logan right?"  
"You're telepathic?"  
She shrugged. "Logan, I now know everything about you, and I don't want to. I know you have adamanium in your body and your claws but I want you to know that I can still kick the shit out of you." she thrusted her hands into her pockets and walked away. 


	2. Oz's History

Two  
  
And we hide behind,  
  
Lies, anger, Hate they shoo love away,  
  
Build shells of ourselves outside,  
  
It shelters body from cold reigns of reality,  
  
Come on, Step out, of your rind, assemble strength, focus,  
  
Release and run to me you can never look back to the visions from the past they fade and wilt in time,  
  
You've got to just trust me to hold your hand through,  
  
Then I turn and walk away,  
  
Eclipse you,  
  
And bleed you strip you of your states of ain soph aur,  
  
Eclipse you,  
  
I spit up on my plate and I push everything away,  
  
I need,  
  
And we sever all ties,  
  
It creates disruption midst circle of friends,  
  
I become the sacrifice,  
  
Spare your life and leave me to my misery,  
  
Get off the cross, and save yourself, run away  
  
Run now get away from me if I can get my grip I'll pull you down into the hell I call my head you'll never get away  
  
I sit down in my ugly place and build walls out of fragments from my past of all the people that I needed and loved that walked away,  
  
You've got to just trust me to hold your hand through then I'll turn and walk away  
  
I walk under the clouds of gray,  
  
Sphere of storms in my head,  
  
I'm trapped again in endless rain  
  
I divorce the thoughts of you I love with me,  
  
I divorce your innocence and my guilt,  
  
I divorce the lying sellout confidence,  
  
I'm divorcing every mother fuckin' thing  
  
I divorce the love bled meaningless,  
  
I divorce the makeshift harmony,  
  
I divorce the taunting acts of violence,  
  
I divorce the pastime of jealousy,  
  
I divorce control,  
  
I divorce the faith,  
  
I divorce the virtue,  
  
I divorce the rain,  
  
I divorce the excuse,  
  
I divorce the greed,  
  
I divorce the need,  
  
I divorce iniquity in this mother fuckin' bullshit life,  
  
Just want it all to go away,  
  
Just want to run away to die, take it, myself, my life  
  
Text book fucking mental, off me and pitch me in a hole  
  
I'll always be your shadow,  
  
And veil your eyes from states of ain soph aur,  
  
I can't be the hero anymore,  
  
I spit up on my plate and then I turn and walk away,  
  
I spit up on my plate and I disrupt the family,  
  
I spit up on my plate and I sever the entity,  
  
And I feel your warm sun on my face  
  
Separate.  
  
Eclipse you and bleed you strip you of your states of ain soph aur,  
  
I need you,  
  
It's always been this way, I push it all away,  
  
From me  
Severed Mudvayne  
  
She jumped off the stage, people were laughed, cheering and calling out for more. She said no and heading out back to work.  
"Great song." Logan said.  
"God, are you still following me?"  
"I need to talk to you." Logan shrugged.  
"I'll kick the shit out of you, I'll have no shame in that!"  
"I believe you would, but will you please hear me out?"  
She looked at him sidelong. "Why should I?"  
"Because I can fight back."  
She lashed out, her claws shooting out and slashing him across the stomach. He recoiled.  
"Holy Shit." He said and extended his own claws. "Fine, let's fight."  
She lunged to punch him, he ducked and she flipped over him and kicked him to the ground and slashed his sides. He rolled out of the way and jumped up and lunged at her. He cut her back right shoulder, but she countered by stabbing him in the side. He yelped out in pain and slashed out in a fury cutting her cheek and upper arm. She yelped, retracted her claws and clutched her cheek. She took a few steps back glaring at him.  
"Are you alright?" he asked retracting his claws.  
"Fine, I am fine, I just don't take facial cuts to well, they don't heal as quickly." She said looking at her hand, which was covered in blood. She rubbed at it, yet it kept bleeding.  
"I'm sorry Oz, I didn't mean to-"  
"Hey, I started it, right?"  
He nodded. "Yeah you did."  
She glared at him then at her hand, it stopped bleeding and the cuts were slowly closing. "So, why do you want me to go to New York?"  
"There is a school over there for people like us."  
"Us?"  
"Mutants." He grinned. "And Professor Xavier, the founder of the school, would like to talk to you and have a chat."  
Oz looked around for anything to wash her hands with. "And if I say no?"  
"There are more people like Scott and I over there, I think the professor would kidnap you and talk to you."  
Oz chuckled. "He wouldn't do that." She sighed. "Fine, let's go to New York and 'chat' with this guy of yours then I have to come back home. That project doesn't really start for another week, I suppose I could take a vacation."  
"Your boss wouldn't mind?"  
"Jason?"  
"Yeah, I heard you talking about him before you sang."  
"He's not my boss, I work for him sometimes, he lined up this project for me, but he isn't my boss, I am self-employed and I don't let him forget it either." She nodded. "When he pisses me off I up and leave him for a few days to work by himself, let him do things on his own then I come back and offer a helping a hand."  
"He asks you to come back?"  
She thought. "No, not always, but I am nicer then I make myself to be."  
Logan nodded. "So you'll come to talk to him with me?"  
"Yes Logan if that will make you happy and leave me alone."  
He nodded. "It will."  
"Good." She sighed. "When do we leave?"  
  
Scott wasn't happy that he had to fly back out to New Mexico and pick them up, but it was good nonetheless, Oz was coming to New York to talk to the Professor so the whole school was happy and Oz. well, Oz was content.  
  
"Oz Conner," Professor Xavier rolled out into the hall. "It is very nice to finally meet you face to face."  
Oz looked down at him. "Don't probe my mind Professor, I will leave."  
"Oh, I don't mean to pry Oz, I was just receiving the basics."  
She said nothing, she always did the same, receive the basics, name, age, type of mutant, powers. she smiled and looked around.  
"Nice digs Professor." She said. "I like the architect."  
"That's nice, shall we go into my office?"  
She nodded and they left the two boys in the hall.  
"So, Oz, how did you come by all of your powers, you are very enigmatic in that you have so many powers."  
"Not so much of powers as they are a way of survival."  
"Yes," he nodded. "But why do you illustrate them in that manner?"  
She walked to the window and looked out of it. "Because Professor they were my survival."  
"Oz?"  
"What do you want from me Professor?" she asked in a low voice. "I am not a specimen to study under a microscope."  
"I know."  
"And I am not a specimen to interrogate for hours on end about my life and how I 'came-to-be'."  
"You say this as if you are bored."  
"Not bored Professor, I am never bored, I am content, I have learned to be content, because this is as good as it gets."  
"You treat yourself as normal people treat the mutants."  
"Normal," she snorted. "And what per se is 'normal'?"  
"Oz, I am not trying to bore into you," he sighed. "I have picked you up through Cerebro, I can only pick you up through Cerebro when you use your powers and no other time and I wish to know if you are the only one who can do this or if there are others out there like you, and how you accomplish this."  
She rubbed her temple. "Professor, if you concentrated hard enough you would see your Cerebro cannot pick me up either way, as mutant or human, until I use my powers, the other month when Stryker got a hold of you and your powers, when you attacked the mutants, I was unharmed, when you attacked the humans after Magneto turned the tables, I was again unharmed."  
"Yes, but why?"  
She rubbed harder. "Because," She turned and looked at him. "I was programmed that way."  
There was a sharp knock at the door, Oz looked at it and disappeared.  
"Come in." Professor said.  
Kurt walked in. "Professor, I just got the strangest feeling."  
The Professor looked at him curiously.  
  
"Oz, you're still here?" Logan asked.  
Oz sat on the steps, it was a little past two, and she sipped Bacardi. "Yeah, I am still here."  
"Where did you get that? This is school grounds you know."  
She nodded and handed it to him. "Want some?"  
He hesitated then took it and drank.  
"I went into town, I was going to catch a bus out of here but then I caught something, a bad vibe or something, and I wanted to investigate. So I bought the Bacardi and I came back."  
"Bad vibe?"  
She shrugged. "It is gone now, but it was here, right here on this step." She patted the step and closed her eyes. "Like an echo."  
"Echo?"  
"Echo." She giggled. "What I picked up right here was an echo, a memory, of regret."  
"You lost me."  
She sighed. "I loose everyone." She got up and walked away.  
"Where are you going now?"  
"I am leaving."  
"Where? Why?"  
She turned to him. "Why not? There is nothing here for me Logan, this is a house to me, a home to you."  
"I don't live here."  
"No, you don't get it, a house is a building where people reside. A home is a place where no matter where you go you feel as if you belong there. Am I correct to say that no matter where you go you always feel. like you belong here?"  
He nodded. "Yes."  
"This is your home Logan, to me," she shrugged and opened the front door. "It is just another house."  
And she was gone.  
  
*** *** *** ***  
  
"Where the HELL did you go Miss Conner?"  
Oz starred at Jason for long moment then turned and left the office.  
The over-ambitious, over-dressed man ran after her. "Oz Conner! You had no right to walk out of me, you had no right to take that little vacation of yours you had no right-" he grabbed her arm and twisted her around.  
She ripped her arm from his grip and backhanded him as hard as she could without making it look like an effort.  
Jason twisted and collapsed to the ground. He squirmed and turned over onto his belly and looked up at her.  
She flicked him off and walked off. "Your on your own screw boy."  
  
"Oz," Professor Xavier smiled. "Interesting to see you back here."  
Logan walked up in the shadows and watched in silent.  
"Why did you come back?"  
She smiled at him. "I never said thank you for having me."  
Professor Xavier chuckled. "You didn't have to come all the way back for that."  
She nodded. "Yeah, but I also discovered there is nothing for me back at where I use to live."  
"Use to live?"  
"Albuquerque has nothing for me."  
"And this place does?"  
"Well," she looked around. "No, not that I can sense, but I figured out who you are after reading a few minds here. I didn't exactly realize that you were that famous for your powers." She shrugged and looked around. "I figure I at least owe you my story."  
"Owe me for what?"  
"Well, you sent that jet all the way to Albuquerque and I am a teleporter."  
"I figured you needed to know where you are going."  
"Most of the time yes, but if I am teleporting someone with me and they know where they are going they can concentrate hard enough and channel through me and we can get to that place."  
He nodded. "I didn't know that."  
She shrugged. "So, Professor, my story?"  
"You want to tell it now?" he looked at his watch. "You are an owl. It is six past one."  
"Oh," she yawned. "I suppose I can tell you later then." She threw a small bag over her shoulder and turned away. "Then I'll come back later."  
"Where are you going?" Logan said coming out of hiding.  
"To find a place to crash." She said glaring at him.  
"Why not just stay here?"  
"Logan, we do not have room."  
"She can sleep in my room, I'll crash on the couch."  
"No," Oz shook her head. "It is your bed, I'll head into town."  
"Please, it'll save you about an hours walk both ways." Logan said. "My room is big, you can have the bed and I'll take the couch in the next room."  
Oz turned to them. "Fine, but I get the couch."  
Logan crossed his arms. "Now are you going to be difficult?"  
She dropped her bag and brought her arms up in readiness, her claws extended and she narrowed her eyes. "What do you think?"  
Professor Xavier laughed.  
  
"I was born a twin, or so I was told, my twin was adopted out and I was taken by my father to some sort of training facility. I was raised a killer, by age seven I could stalk, plan, kill and either make it look like an accident or get away with it cleanly. I was abused, heavy shock therapy. Whips, electrocution, physically being beaten up, life was shit; it was no illusion and no joy ride. So I learned to withdraw from the pain, that only make it worse, cat o' nine tails, water-drenched electrocution, then when I was being physically beaten up, the pain unlocked my ability to teleport, my father didn't like that, so I was held in spot by a person with telekinetic powers and I was beaten.  
"But I learned everything they had to teach me, then I ran away. They found me and locked my memories, they beat me, harshly, but I got away again. I was safe, for about three years maybe, but then they found me and they beat me for all hell's worth and they projected images into my mind, things I am capable of doing, all the harm I could cause, all the shit I could rile up." She rubbed her temple. "I couldn't get them out, I still can't, I had to quit my job at the construction site and take time out to settle all this shit in my head. I knew my father did this to me, and that thought alone ripped me apart. So I got the papers and became legally self- employed and it's been working since. I have money, enough to live by on, and my education is fantastic, aside them beating and training me, I learned a lot, I read every single book I could get a hold of. I've read all of the encyclopedias A to Z and I'm still reading the dictionary. But I hate getting into all those technical words; I keep my life and my knowledge simple and basic. Who gives a damn about proper speech anymore? Or correct grammar? No one, so I keep it rough and simple and I live."  
"And that's everything?" Professor Xavier asked.  
"Yes, the beatings and the pain awoke all powers inside of me to come out. The telepathic and telekinetic powers I was born with, I always had them, I just never use them, I was born with claws, I was born with adamantium in my body, this is me Professor Xavier, I am a mutant mutt." 


	3. New Problems

Three  
  
She sat on the front stoop smoking a cigarette and sipping a Pepsi. The stars were bright; the moon was full all against the midnight blue canvass that was the midnight sky. She smiled brightly, knowing now that her burdens where lighter with the professor informed. She didn't know why she felt so light, he just knew about her now, yet, it still made her feel like a load was taken away from her.  
"He does that." A little boy walked outside and sat next to her.  
She snubbed out her cigarette and smiled at him. "Hello, who are you?"  
"Kevin," he smiled at her. "Professor makes us all feel better, it is what he does."  
"Shouldn't you be asleep?"  
"Shouldn't you?"  
"I don't sleep anymore." She said frowning a little. "But you are young, you should sleep, you have school in the morning."  
"I had a bad dream."  
"Oh? What was it?"  
"I was walking in a field and there was the moon and the sun in the sky, like the sky was divided into night and day, and these creatures, I don't know what they looked like now, but I remember they scarred me, they were walking down the divide, it was like a line in the sky was reflecting on the surface of the field. They scarred me because they were dripping with blood, then I saw people, humans and mutants alike were walking around in a daze and they too were drenched with blood. Then I saw you,"  
"Me?" she asked astonished.  
"Yeah, you, you were walking around with a bow and arrow muttering about unfinished business and walking to get even. You looked madder then anything in the universe." The boy sighed. "Then I woke up." he shivered. "Do you know what it means?"  
"No." she shook her head.  
"It means something big is coming and you past is going to show up and you are going to face it head on and you are going to want to get even with the people from your past. Is there anyone in your past that you do not like and that you want to kill?"  
She starred at the boy for a long moment. "Yes, there are a lot of people in my past I would like to kill, but," she shook her head.  
"But what?"  
"But I don't remember them." she looked at him again as if expecting answers.  
"There are no answers Oz. None that I have that you don't already know."  
She smiled. "Thanks anyways Kevin."  
He got up and walked back into the house. "Good night Oz."  
"Good night." She looked at her snubbed out cigarette and frowned. "Down, I snubbed it to hard. I got to learn to snub lighter."  
"The professor would have your hide for smoking in the first place."  
"Night Logan."  
"Night." He smiled and sat beside her. "So, Oz, you are an insomniac as well?"  
"I guess I am now," she looked over at him. "And it is all because you and Scott had to come over at three sixteen in the morning and wake me up."  
He raised his hands in defense. "Hey, I was just standing there, he was knocking."  
"But you weren't doing anything to stop him now were you?"  
"Well, no, but-"  
"But nothing, you are just as guilty as he is Logan, and I won't forget that." She stretched, her back popped in several places.  
"What will you do now?"  
"I don't know I can't stay here."  
"Why not?"  
"Because, like I said earlier Logan, this isn't where I belong."  
"And where do you belong Oz?"  
She crossed her legs and rested her wrists on her knees. "I honestly don't know where I belong, but I know it is not here. This is a house, not a home, at least," she pushed her self up and stretched again. "Not for me." She looked down at him. "I was thinking Rio de Janeiro, I heard it is nice this time of year. Or maybe the Greek islands that would be nice. Maybe Rome." She rubbed her temple and closed her eyes. "What about you Logan? What are you going to do?"  
He stood up and shrugged. "Well, I don't know, but," he looked her in the eye then looked away.  
"But what?"  
"But," he shrugged. "I don't know."  
She tried to look him in the eye but he evaded her gaze.  
"Good night Oz." He kissed her on the cheek and walked off quickly.  
She stood here in shock. "He kissed me." She said rubbing her cheek.  
  
Oz stood outside the Professor's office until he opened the door smiling up at her.  
"Come in, I was expecting you to knock."  
"I knew you knew I was out here, I didn't want to intrude on you getting ready."  
"Very kind of you Oz, but I assure you, I am never to busy to talk to people."  
She nodded and closed the door behind her; she sat on the couch and smiled at him. "Professor, tell me, who was Jean Grey?"  
The Professor looked up at her, her mind was a locked door. "Why do you want to know?"  
"Scott thinks only about my presence being here a nuisance and about this Jean Grey, Logan thinks about her, everyone thinks about her yet they only give that, nothing more. So, who is she? Or am I not at liberty to really ask?"  
"Ask! I am very thrilled that you are taking an interest in our lives here!" he smiled jovially. "But when it comes to Jean Grey, I think you should ask Scott, he loved her like no other could, if anyone should tell you about her, it is him."  
  
"No!" Scott shouted. "Whom do you think you are to ask about a woman you know nothing about?" he hissed. "You have no right to ask about her! You have no right to talk about her! You have no right to think about her! You have no right-"  
She backhanded him and walked off. "You have no right to talk to me like that." She said over her shoulder and left the school.  
Professor Xavier walked into the room with Logan; they looked at Scott at the ground cradling his cheek.  
"That oz, she's mental." He said.  
"What did you do?" Logan asked.  
"She was asking about Jean, she had no right! And I told her so, then she backhanded me and left."  
Logan made to run after her.  
"You won't catch her Logan, she's a teleporter remember?" the Professor said. "She's gone."  
Logan wheeled around. "WHY DID YOU TALK TO HER LIKE THAT SCOTT! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TALK TO HER LIKE THAT? SHE'S OUR GUEST HERE!"  
"She didn't have the right-"  
"You're wrong Scott," the Professor cooed. "She has every right to ask."  
"Professor!" Scott said shocked.  
"Everyone has the right to be curious, she caught the vibe of Jean off of everyone, she was curious and she came to me but I told her to ask you since it is you that she cherished and loved."  
Logan nodded still glaring at Scott.  
"I didn't know that." Scott said innocently.  
"That's why you don't jump to shit like that!"  
"Logan," Professor warned against foul language.  
"Sorry. But still."  
Professor Xavier nodded. "Yes, next time do not jump to conclusions like that Scott, it makes you look bad."  
Kurt strolled into the room. "Oh, Professor, here you are."  
"Yes Kurt?"  
"I had the feeling again all day yesterday and just now, but it is gone, what do you think it is?"  
Logan shook his head. "I am going to go look for her Professor."  
"You do that." Professor Xavier nodded. "Now Kurt,"  
  
*** *** *** ***  
  
Logan ran into Oz outside a coffee house, however she was drinking down what looked like a red Popsicle from a cup.  
"Oz?"  
"Ow!" she pressed her hand to her head.  
"Headache?"  
"No," she closed her eyes and pressed harder. "Brain freeze!" she quickly downed the rest of the drink and clutched her head with both hands.  
"What is that?"  
She dropped her hands and shook her head furiously back and forth. "It is called an Italian Water Ice, they are really good, and the only thing that gives me brain freezes."  
Logan looked at the cup. "Interesting."  
She smiled at him and wiped her lips and rubbed her face. "So what are you doing here?"  
"Nothing, I was just looking for you."  
"Why?" she leaned back onto her hands.  
"Because I wanted to know why you backhanded Scott."  
"You know why, I know you do."  
"Right, I want to know what you want to know about Jean Grey."  
She shrugged. "I respected what Professor Xavier said, to ask Scott, but I think he is still too riled up about losing her, you are too, that is why I went to the Professor in the first place, because I felt it was disrespectful to ask you or Scott, yet he thought it was out of place to ask anyone but Scott." She sighed. "I don't know, I told you, I don't feel in place there, it is not where I belong, this is a reason, because I don't know how you all work, who asks who about whatever. Everyone defines respect and proper ways in different ways, mine are different, but I find it too much a hassle to learn everyone else's I. I just don't know." She stood up and threw her bag over her shoulder.  
"So where are you going to go?"  
"There is a race in the town square in a little less then an hour, the prize is a racer's motorcycle. I have my eyes on it."  
"What kind of race?"  
"A motorcycle race." She shrugged. "This guy said I could ride his bike, but I have to do something for him in return." She shrugged. "I figure if I win, it'll be worth it."  
"Forget him, use Scott's bike, I rode it in, it'll be good for racing."  
She eyed him. "Are you sure?"  
"Why not?"  
She shrugged. "All right, so I take it you are going to stay for the race."  
"Why not?"  
  
Scott's bike was good. Better even. It rode smoothly and took turns easily. Oz maxed it out on the straight a ways on the outskirts of town and took the turns a little over seventy. She won the race a full minute a head of everyone else.  
"Congratulations!" Logan cheered.  
People surrounded her, patted her back and jeered jovially. Nobody had seen a race over with that fast.  
Oz took her new cycle to a garage and had it checked over and fueled.  
"Where did you learn to ride like that Oz?" Logan asked grinning widely.  
"I loved to race, I figure, go big, or go home. I race everything, cycles, cars, bikes, blades, boards. anything fast enough to do something stupid in, I'll race it. I can't stand slow, life is too short to go slow."  
Logan nodded. "I agree." He grabbed her into a hug and kissed her deeply.  
She stepped back after a long kissing moment and looked at him.  
"Sorry." He finally said.  
She nodded and got on her cycle.  
"Where are you going?"  
"You know, you ask that question a lot."  
He shrugged. "I just care."  
She tilted her head. "You 'just care'?"  
"Is that a crime?"  
She revved the engine. "No, I'll come back someday."  
"When?"  
She shrugged. "Someday." And again, she was gone.  
  
**** **** **** ****  
  
Oz pushed herself into a sitting position on the park bench. The sun had been up only fifteen minutes before the heat of it woke her up. She ran her hand through her hair and shook her head.  
"Morning sunshine." A voice cackled behind her.  
She jumped up and looked at the mean looking man standing behind the bench.  
"Remember me?" he grinned. "I am sure you do." He raised his hands and threw her into a tree and held her there. Another man came into view, he wore black attire, like the first man, like her, but this man wore black gloves, which he slowly removed now as he approached her.  
"Who are you?" she asked.  
"You don't remember me?" the man with black gloves asked. "What a shame, but I am not surprised. You weren't suppose to remember, the fact that you remember what you did, then you told Xavier, well, that made us mad. We had to come all this way to track you down just to seal your mind again, but I figure since I am here, why not just assure myself on some recent information with what is already in your head?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"Oz, surely you remember that there were people who are using your head like a lock box." He grinned evilly. "We put information into your head and sealed it. If we had any question about that information all we had to do was track you down, get inside your head and assure yourselves again. Well, I got some information and I didn't like it so I am going to check it with what is in your mind." He had his gloves removed now, his hands looked like they were just retrieved from a fire. They were black, burnt black and looked as if they would blow away in the wind if a strong enough breeze swept through.  
"Yes," he nodded. "You were always afraid of my hands, I wouldn't expect you to have overcome that fear." He placed both of his hands on her head and threw his own head back.  
A door in her mind opened, a tidal wave of information crashed out of her mind and flooded his. She jerked and tried to pull away, but the first man held her tight with his telekinetic powers. The pain of the memories made her scream, she tried to teleport but he wouldn't let her.  
Finally, after what seemed a million years, the man with burnt hands pulled away.  
"Fine." He sneered, he slapped her and the second man let go of her. She crumbled to the ground, the information still rushing out of her.  
"Morpheus, Tida, I remember you two." She pushed herself up. "I remember what you two did to me!" her claws extended slowly.  
Morpheus, the man with burnt hands watched her. "Oh? And what exactly are you going to do about it Oz? Scratch us with your claws?"  
She lashed out, slashing Tida across the stomach, he pulled back and threw her into another tree and held her there.  
"You are faster then I remember." Morpheus shook his head. "You might even have kill Tida here, he is bleeding to fast."  
The fact that Tida was dying didn't faze him.  
Morpheus clutched her head again and locked her mind up and started to project images into her mind like her did last time. She held onto his name, she trapped it in different places to remember it. Finally she collapsed to the ground, Morpheus looked down at her then at Tida who was dead. Oz clutched at her own head now, the new images driving her mad. He said something to her, then left, and she stayed there, close to screaming from the new images, images of her killing people without knowing it, of her going back to the school and killing them, and not knowing what she was really doing.  
"Shh," a soft voice cooed. "Shh, it'll be alright now." Soft hands slid into her hair, the images faded away and she blacked out.  
  
**** **** **** ****  
  
"No,"  
"Why not?"  
"Because when I got to her someone was already in her mind, something is in there that she probably doesn't want-"  
"Exactly, so just go inside and see what she is harboring."  
"No."  
"Aw, come on, don't be such a prude."  
"Why don't you go into her brain if you are so edger to see what is in there?"  
"No going into my brain without my say so." Oz muttered within the layers and layers of blankets.  
"Are you awake?"  
"Who's asking?"  
"My name is Degas."  
Oz sat up and fought her way out of the blankets. She looked at the two women sitting by a large fire. Only had long black hair and wore a green tang top and baggy blue jeans. The other had short red hair, wore khaki shorts and a white tang top.  
"I know you." Oz pointed to the red hair. "I know you, I remember you."  
"You do?" Degas, the black haired one, looked over her shoulder at her friend.  
"I remember you," Oz chuckled. "But," she went solemn faced. "You can't be you, you're dead."  
"The Phoenix-"  
"I mean before that, before any of that." Oz shook her head. "You don't remember me do you?"  
"I've never met you."  
"You're Jean Grey."  
"Yes, but I don't-"  
"Your name sounded familiar, I needed to know if it really was you, I needed your face but no one present a picture of you in their mind."  
Jean was taken aback. "Who are you?"  
"Jean, its me, Oz Conner. I. I saved your life." 


	4. Degas be known

Four  
  
Degas strummed her fingers on the dead log, Oz and Jean argued back and forth about going to go see Professor Xavier.  
"Why not just go?" Degas shouted finally. "I see no reason in why we can't just go."  
Oz nodded happily. Jean shook her head No.  
"Well why the bloody hell not Jean! You said so yourself that you think the Professor already knows that you are alive! And now could he not? Him with Cerebro and all?" Degas asked. "I mean, come on Jean don't be mean."  
"I don't want to go back there just yet, I don't think that I am ready to go back there just now." Jean said. "Besides, what can the Professor do for us there that we cannot do here?"  
Oz made to say something then stopped. "Ah, good point."  
"I mean," she nodded. "What are we going to do anyway?"  
Degas pulled her hair into a ponytail and put her hands on her hips. "I don't know, but I could really do with some mutton right about now."  
Jean laughed. "Only you would say that!"  
"Mutton eh?" Oz licked her lips. "Not a bad idea. I'll be back in just a moment." And she teleported away.  
"Where'd she go?" Jean asked.  
Degas shrugged. "Who knows." She eyed her friend. "So, you two know each other?"  
"I don't remember her." Jean shrugged.  
"Well, if we go talk to the Professor, maybe he could read both of your minds and see what the connection is exactly." She looked into the starry sky then crossed her legs and sat down. "What kills me is this. eh, she remembers you, but she doesn't remember me."  
Jean looked over at Degas who was still studying the stars.  
  
*** *** *** ***  
  
Oz appeared half an hour later carrying a small bag. "It's still hot."  
Degas looked over at her. "Mutton?" she jumped up and ran to Oz who fished out three Tupperware bowls.  
"Yeah, straight from the Navajo reservation."  
"Which family?"  
"The Ambrose Family." She smiled. "They are good people."  
"Meko?"  
"Yeah, his family."  
Jean opened her bowl and looked at the brown liquid. "What exactly is this?"  
"Mutton stew, it is the vertebra of a lamb and its-"  
"You'd rather not know." Degas nodded. "It is good shit, that's all I got to say. Eat it, judge it, the Ambrose family kill when it comes to making Mutton Stew."  
Oz nodded. "What she said." She pulled out a small baggie of tortillas. "They made these too, they are really cool."  
"This is good." Degas said sipping up her stew.  
Jean looked down at it, ripped off a piece of tortillas, dipped it in the stew and ate it.  
Degas and Oz watched her intently and waited with bated breath for a response.  
"Eh," Jean smiled. "Not bad, it's nothing I have ever tasted before, but it's not bad."  
Oz and Degas smiled at each other and they went on eating.  
When they were done they put the Tupperware back in the bag and they pulled the blackest apart and they fell asleep. The moon had set and the east horizon was a dull gray growing bring.  
  
Oz ran through a forest, a teleporter was following her, calling to her by name. Shadows ran beside her, in front of her, behind her, they chanted her name, they chanted words of malice and words that brought fear to her heart. The teleporter called to her more furiously, its voice full of worry and concern, a voice she knew. yet. did not know. Glimpses of the teleporter, it looked like her, the real her, blue skin, a tail, pointed ears. him. this teleporter was male, she knew him, in her heart she knew him. No name came to her, he was an echo from her own past. Maybe he didn't really exist; maybe he was a shadow that had taken form to fool her.  
Oz tripped on some roots. The shadows closed in, they had weapons, weapons she had never seen before, things from an alien race used to probe and pick and torture. she screamed. The other teleporter appeared with his weapon. He scarred them, he challenged them and threatened them, they took steps back then stopped and assessed the situation then they again began to close in. he turned then to her, grabbed her with his tail and pulled her into his arms and they teleported away.  
They appeared in the mansion. She looked around but there was no one in the mansion. They ran around to the different rooms, but no one was there. She ran outside to the front, the lawn was covered with dead bodies. Everyone who lived at the mansion was on the ground, blood covered them, a war had broken out on the steps of this school, and everyone had died. Logan was looking down; he had just walked onto the premises from a journey he had taken, he had come back to the same horror as Oz and the other teleporter. The other teleporter, Oz wheeled around to see who the other teleporter was, there was a blinding white light, she could head Logan screaming her name, then, something dug itself into her stomach. The pain was a searing white light, like the one she was starring into. And all the while Logan was screaming her name, she could hear him trying to get to her, but the shadows where there, they were fighting Logan and the other teleporter, and the pain of her stomach made her feel as if she was falling.  
She was falling. an abyss that never ended, an abyss chock full of blinking, binding white pain. She screamed, in agony, in misery, in sadness. Her life seeping out of her in the red liquid that was her blood, her life. going. going. gone.  
  
"WAKE UP!" Degas pulled Oz into a sitting position and slapped her.  
Her eyes shot open and she looked around for the shadows, she could feel them close, too close, why couldn't she see them?  
"It was just a dream," Jean cooed from her blanket. "Oz, calm down, it was just a dream."  
Oz sighed, the shadows were running away, were a dream, and as all dreams, breaking away into bubbles and leaking away like water leaks away in cupped hands. She was shot in a cold sweat, her breathing labored, but she was claming down.  
"Are you all right Oz?" Degas asked. "You were screaming."  
"Nightmares." Oz rubbed her temples, images were fading away, but the horror of what she could not remember was still there, clearer then. then what? She shook her head; her eyes opened and darted around for distractions.  
"Maybe we should go see the Professor." Jean admitted. "Whatever is in your head Oz isn't good, you dream nightmares that would send me into shock."  
"He is not going into my brain." Oz said straightly. "No one is going to go into my brain."  
"Oz, whatever is troubling you, Professor Xavier can help you."  
"NO!" Oz stood up. "Whatever is in my head is going to damn well stay there! I've seen it unlocked and known to me before! It is a torrid of damn information that I do not want but it is too damn painful to unlock and get out of me! It is a physical pain to remember what they put in me!" she massaged her temple harder. "Look, I appreciate your concern, but please, don't try to help me Jean, it is you who need the help."  
"Me?"  
"Scott is going crazy, he thinks he's lost you completely, Logan isn't much better, but he is better, you choosing Scott over him, the loss of you was hard on him, but it was harder on Scott, he knows you shoes him over Logan, and that is killing him."  
Jean gasped. "But, I can't go back."  
"Why not Jean?" Oz demanded. "You are killing the people you love! The children, the other teachers! Everyone loves you Jean! And you, you leaving them! You surviving and not talking to them! It's been what? Nearly a year now and here you are with Degas just doing what? What are you doing out here Jean?"  
"Well, I'm."  
"What?" Oz looked over at Degas. "What exactly are you two doing out here?"  
"I was looking for-"  
"Look Oz!" Jean interrupted. "Degas found me a little down river from here, she pulled me out of the water and tended to my wounds. The Phoenix Force kept me alive through the pressure of the dam breaking and it even healed my body of all broken bones. Degas found me after that, her and a few friends of hers. They told me what they were doing and I offered to help, so, I did."  
Oz looked back at Degas. "And what are you looking for?"  
Degas looked up at her, her eyes full of unknown emotion. "Was looking for-"  
Just then the earth shook with the force of a major earthquake. Oz stumbled to the ground, then quickly pushed herself back up as the aftershocks shook the earth.  
"What the hell is that?"  
Jean looked around. "Something's not right."  
Three fighter jets blasted overhead, one released a missile that zoomed ahead then turned toward another jet that was approaching fast.  
"That's Professor's jet!" Jean shouted.  
The missile wavered off course and exploded a mere few feet above the earth's surface. Another quake shook the earth.  
"Are the missiles causing that?" Degas shouted.  
"They can't be!" Jean answered. "They are not that strong!"  
"Besides!" Oz added. "There are after shocks, these must be real earth quakes."  
Degas shouted something, but a missile swerving overhead drowned out her words. The explosion was closer, the heat of it slammed into Oz and Degas who were closer.  
"Bitch!" Oz shouted rubbing her left arm. "That burns!"  
"Get into the river!" Degas shouted pulling oz with her. "We should be safer there, at least from the missiles!"  
They ran into the river as the jets overhead proceeded to engage themselves in a dogfight. After some long moments the fighter jets retreated and the Professor's jet landed. Logan and Storm ran out, both skidded to a halt when they saw Jean's head peeking out from behind Degas.  
Degas turned to Oz. "I was looking for you."  
Oz blinked. "What?"  
"You remembered Jean, I thought you would remember me, I mean, I am your cousin after all. I was with you when you lived at the manor with your father and his co-workers."  
"Co-workers?"  
"It was called Wayside Manor, on the upside it looked like a hospital for the terminally ill," she shrugged. "In a way, I suppose it was. Your father and his co-workers experimented on mutants, seeing what would happen with what chemicals pumped into the bloodstreams. But for us," Degas looked at Oz. "For us, it was different."  
"Who's 'us'?"  
"Ryan, Jake, Jackson, Brandon, Me and You." Degas waited, when Oz said nothing she continued. "We were called the Marauders. We were trained to kill, destroy, infiltrate, spy, gather intelligence. basically we were trained to be ghosts, like a marines special operations unit. We were trained from birth to do this, so we grew up thinking it was the normal way of life. Jackson was good at telepathic spying; Jake was our telekinetic genius who could steal files and papers in a crowded room without anyone noticing. Ryan could manipulate water in any form; Brandon was a specialist in getting us around, he manipulated things, trees, bushes, roots, with that he could create massive tunnels underground faster then a person could run. Then you, you were trained to fight. If anything should go wrong, or if someone stumbled upon us, you were trained to kill him or her, confuse him or her, or to cause a diversion when one was needed. And I was trained to lead all of this, and to destroy any and all evidence that we were there, or that we even existed."  
"How?"  
Degas looked over at Jean. "You had a student, John, Pyro was his other name. He could manipulate fire. I can manipulate it, I can create It." she looked back at Oz. "We all had short hair, all but me, at the end of the day I had to shower us with fire, the fire had to burn away all dead skin and it would brush away all dead or loose hair. I couldn't manipulate it around long hair for other people, only with me, so I was allowed to keep my long hair.  
"This was our job, this was our life, or, at least it was, then one day Jake found something he didn't like and he showed it to us. It was what we really were doing, which was killing a lot of innocent people. You came up with the idea to run away. So we helped you escape first, you would go out, scout out a safe place to live then came back with the information. But while you were out there, they got to you, and they brought you back and they locked your memory, we had to start over with you. When we got you out there again they attacked you and put that shit in your head.  
"We didn't know what they put in your head, but with it in you they let you stay out there. So we worked together, the boys and me, and we got out. We scattered for three years, we emailed each other, kept in touch, then we agreed to come and find you. About a year ago we found Jean, through her mind we could connect to other people's mind, into the Professor's mind. It took a long time but finally you showed up at the mansion. We were happier then hell to see that you were alive. We were going to go get you, but we were ambushed, the guys were killed, the Marauders is down to just you and me Oz, we have to avenge our friends."  
"But how?"  
"The only way we can, we have to go back to Wayside Manor, we have to face what we have been running from for so long we have to get inside your head and learn what they know."  
"Degas, it is a physical pain to see the information-"  
"Oz. who knows what all this could wind down to. The survival of mutants? Humans? The world?"  
"But I don't want to remember."  
Degas sighed. "I hate to do this Oz, but we have no other choice." She brought her hand up in a swiping motion, fire bellowed out of her palm and wrapped around Oz, the intense heat engulfed Oz, and she blacked out. 


	5. Finally Told

Five  
  
"Shit, talk about boring." The teenager muttered.  
"Maybe you wouldn't be bored if you didn't blow it every time and always get caught in detention!" the teacher shouted.  
"Hey," He shrugged. "Can I help it if I was just trying to, improve the fun around here?"  
"Skating into class and nearly crashing into your English teacher is hardly an idea of fun Tobias!"  
He leaned over his desk; his shoulder-length black hair fell around his face. "It's the last day of school Mr. Shrill, can't you just let me go?"  
"It is the last day of school, and only you have detention."  
"That must be a record of some kind."  
"Tobias! You've had detention every week this entire school year and still you managed to graduate at the top of your class!" Mr. Shrill fumed. "How did you pull it off?"  
Tobias looked up and smiled. "It's a secret!"  
Mr. Shrill glared heavily down at him then turned away. "You can go." There was a popping sound and when he turned around the room was empty.  
  
Tobias gathered speed and nailed the 540 on the invert ramp, just as he landed he looked at the front door to see Degas walking in with her long black hair billowing behind her. Tobias shouted her name in disbelief and tripped over himself.  
Degas stood leaning against the wall as Tobias collected himself and ran over to her.  
"The hell you doing here?"  
"Nice you see you too Toby."  
He ran his hand through her angel soft hair. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon. I mean, last you left you looked pretty pissed."  
"Pretty pissed?" she snorted. "Toby, you nearly killed me! Of course I was going to be 'pretty pissed' how could I not be?"  
"I said I was sorry!"  
She raised a finger. "And you swore to do anything to make up for it."  
He stepped back and looked at her. "What are you getting at?"  
Degas snapped her fingers and by her feet appeared Oz tied in a rope of fire. Toby looked down and blinked.  
"What are you getting at?"  
"This is Oz, the girl we were talking about sometime ago."  
"Yes, and?"  
"And I need you to get into her memories without her knowing."  
"Will this make us even?"  
"Even-stevens."  
He smiled and rubbed his hands together and crouched beside the unconscious Oz. He slid his hands over her forehead and into her hair.  
"NO!" her eyes shot open and she ripped her head back away from his touch. She glared at him and teleported away.  
"Degas?" Toby looked up at her shocked. "She was alive?"  
"Of course she was alive you twit!"  
"I DON'T DO ALIVE!"  
"What?"  
"I can't read minds that are alive! Only dead minds are open to me."  
Degas blinked. "Really? Huh, I didn't know that."  
Toby shrugged. "Well, you do now."  
She waved her hand. "Come on, we have to help her."  
"Have your Marauders help you."  
"They are all dead." She said as if it was nothing.  
"Really?"  
"Really Toby, they are dead, it is just her and me."  
He sighed. "Fine, just, let me grab my board." He jogged off.  
  
"OZ!" Logan shouted as he ran down the street.  
Oz hid behind a tree as he stopped running and looked around.  
"I know you're somewhere around here Oz, I can smell you."  
"Are you inclining that I stink?" she asked.  
He turned and heard her teleport. "No, your scent it unique," he breathed deeply. "Cedar and sage, that's your scent, I've only smelled it on you."  
"You're trying to flatter me into coming out. It won't work."  
"Why not?"  
"You are all trying to harbor my brain of its information."  
"I'm not."  
"Why don't you go back and pine over your petty Jean Grey, she's alive and well."  
"She loves Scott."  
"That's never stopped you before."  
"She's made her choice, like she said, 'marry the good guy'."  
Oz jumped down from atop a streetlamp. "You could be the good guy."  
"Obviously not to her." he lowered his head then looked at her.  
She crossed her arms and arched her back. "So, what do you want?"  
He smiled. "I want too many thing, but I do wish to talk to you."  
"I'm here aren't I?"  
"What is in your brain that everyone wants?"  
She shrugged. "I don't know really. People put shit in there, and I can't get to it and Degas wants it so she can fully avenge the Marauders."  
"You're friends?"  
She rubbed her temples. "That's just it, you see, I don't remember any of them. Degas is convinced that it is apart of my trapped memory, but, I just don't remember and she wants to get in there and unlock everything so I can remember. But if that does happen then they'll know everything and. well, I don't want them too."  
"Well why not?"  
"I don't know." She looked up at the stars. "Something inside just doesn't feel right. Like there is something here and I am totally missing it and I cannot see it even though it is standing right under my nose!"  
He watched her. "I know the feeling."  
"I know you do, you have amnesia everything must feel like this to you."  
"The Professor-"  
"I know the Professor is a good guy, I know I could probably trust him with whatever is in my brain, but again, this feeling inside, it's like, whatever is in me, belongs to me and only me."  
"Sounds a little selfish."  
"I know that's what I really hate about it. I am normally not a selfish person."  
"I know your not."  
She turned her back to him but still kept her eyes on the stars.  
"I know I just met you a couple days ago and all, but I feel as if I've known you all my life-"  
"You have." A voice pierced the solitude of their conservation.  
Oz looked over her shoulder; Degas and Tobias jumped off a wall and started to walk toward them.  
"Logan, you have known her all your life. You knew her father, Daniel Conner, he was a very close friend to William Stryker."  
"Degas," Oz stepped away from her. "What the hell are you talking about?"  
"I'm sick of playing good guy Oz," she sneered. "I've come for you and I won't leave until I get what I need from your precious little mind." She brought up her arm; through her palm a massive fireball appeared. Degas whipped it overhead and threw it at Oz.  
It circled her and began to close in, Oz teleported out of the fiery circle and next to Logan.  
"Degas!" Oz shouted.  
"Finding Jean was good, I knew through her we'd be able to find you, of course, when we did find you, Tida and Morpheus had already been and we feared they let enough information through to you about us. Thank our lucky star that they didn't; you didn't remember anything about the Marauders. But your dreams did, at least we got to you before your brother did."  
"Wait, I'm confused." Oz scratched her head.  
"No, you're dead!"  
Oz jumped and spun around; the fire circled her then shot off toward the sky. When she landed she had transformed into her true self. Her skin was blue, her tail came up over her shoulder and grabbed Logan's arm and she teleported away.  
  
They appeared by the jet; Jean was sitting on the steps talking with Kurt and Storm. When they appeared Oz looked down at herself.  
Logan looked at her; everyone else looked over at them.  
"Shit." She muttered and looked at her arms and hands. Her body looked mostly human except for the fact that it was blue. "No, not here." She looked up at Logan who was looking at her.  
"Oz,"  
She stretched out her arms. "Well? What do you think now Logan? This is who I really am, this is what I really am."  
Kurt walked toward her. "Oz,"  
Logan shook his head and walked off.  
"Logan!" she reached out but pulled herself back. She looked at Kurt who nodded toward a few trees. She looked over at Logan who kept walking away then she followed Kurt.  
Kurt stopped by an oak tree; he turned and looked at her. "Oz, there is something I have to tell you."  
She nodded and folded her arms over her stomach. "Yes?"  
"Do you know who I am?"  
She looked into his eyes and nodded. "Kurt Wagner a.k.a. the incredible Night Crawler."  
He blinked. "Yes, but, also, I am your brother." 


	6. Reunited and truths told

Six  
  
Oz studied herself in the full-length mirror then looked at Kurt.  
"What's wrong Oz?"  
"We're so different." She looked at herself again. "I have five fingers and five toes and my eyes are not like yours!" she chuckled. "Also, I don't have all those markings."  
Kurt had to laugh. "One, I did these markings on my own, and two, just because we are twins doesn't mean we are exactly the same."  
Oz looked him in the eye. "Can you do them to me?"  
Kurt tilted his head then nodded. "If you really want it."  
She nodded. "If you are my brother, let us be like."  
Kurt understood and pointed to the table.  
  
"They had to poison the needle in order for it to scar." Professor Xavier said.  
"But how do they know that they really are family?" Storm asked.  
"When Oz was here earlier she had been startled and had teleported, Kurt caught the vibes off of her power and it awakened a connection in his mind. He came to me with these feelings and through time I realized that it was a family connection. So I read his mind and sure enough, they were family and this is their first meeting."  
Logan grunted as he looked out of the window.  
"What bothers your Logan?" Professor Xavier asked wheeling around to face him.  
"Nothing." He said. "What happens now?"  
"Nothing, classes are in the morning, there is going to be a reception to welcome Jean Grey back into our mists and life will resume-"  
"Professor!" Logan turned to face him. "What about Oz and Degas and everything?"  
The Professor shrugged. "Logan, Oz isn't a child, she can take care of herself and I doubt that she wants our help."  
Logan shook his head and walked away.  
"What is it with him and walking away?" Scott asked.  
"That's how he expresses himself," a voice said from the door. Oz stood in the doorway with Kurt behind her. "Well. That'd be my guess anyway." She looked down then looked up at Professor Xavier.  
"Oz," he nodded.  
"Yeah, I just wanted to thank you."  
"For what?"  
"Reuniting me with my brother." She looked back at Kurt who smiled and looked down. "And for not pushing to get inside my head. I am leaving now, I'm going to go find my place in the world."  
"I wish you the best of luck."  
"Thank you for." she shrugged. "Harboring me here."  
"I wouldn't call it-"  
Oz teleported away, Kurt followed.  
  
**** **** **** **** **** ****  
  
Lightening lit the nighttime sky, thunder made the boards of the old church tremble. Candles surrounded the alter where a crying Mary held a dying Christ, a mimic sculpture of the real one in Europe. Oz sat in the third pew from the front, Kurt was lying beside her with his head on her lap he was fast asleep.  
She ran her hand through his hair as she watched the candles burn. Silently she prayed, for strength, for courage, for speed to kill her enemies, enemies that were closing in on her. She could feel them, Degas was closer then she'd like her to be, Toby was with her and they were seeking Oz's blood.  
Oz looked down at her twin brother, he had cut her all over her arms, legs, stomach, he had been hesitant about cutting her torso but she finally got him to do everything. When he saw her back he had shed a tear, regretting not being there to help her.  
"There was nothing you could have done brother, we didn't know each other."  
"I know, but still."  
Oz smiled. " 'But still'."  
War was close, too close, and who would this war effect? She asked herself. What'll happen if the information is pried from my mind and given to them?  
"We don't know," a voice said softly beside her. "That's why we can't let them have it."  
Oz looked up to see Jean smiling down at her. She looked around; Scott, Storm and the Professor were also there.  
"We're here to help you Oz." Professor Xavier said. "We'll help any way we can."  
Kurt opened his eyes and looked up at Oz. "Oh, hello."  
Oz looked down at her brother. "Have a nice sleep?"  
He sat up and smiled. "Yes, I dreamt of us."  
Oz smiled weakly.  
"I know we'll make it through this Oz." He said with confidence. "I promise."  
"I'm touched," she smiled. "I truly am, but how are we going to fight them? What are we going to do?"  
"Anything to win." Jean said. "But Oz, can you tell me what you meant when you said the you saved my life?"  
Scott circled around Jean and looked over her shoulder at Oz.  
"It was a long time ago, you lived by Wayside manor. That day we had been given free time to go outside and do whatever we wanted to do. I remembered this for some reason, I don't why it wasn't sealed with the rest of it, but anyway, I had walked away from the house, down to a park, and I was watching everyone play, having a good time, then I saw you and a friend of yours, you two were playing by some sort of river dam, and then it began to rain. Everyone started to head home, your friend left, she shouted that she was leaving, but I guess you didn't hear her due to the all the noise the dam was making. So she left and you ventured closer to the side to see how it all worked I suppose. Then an unexpected wave rose up out of nowhere and slammed into the side of the dam. It caught you off guard and scared you; you lost your balance and fell over the side. Over the side was a generator and some sort of bladed fan, I never learned what that was. You were screaming for your friend, but she had already left and no one was around to help you. I heard them calling me back in, so I turned to left, but then I heard you screaming and crying. So I went back to you and I helped you up, but you were scarred of me and you fought me. I lost my grip and you fell into the fan. I was scarred, for the first time in my life I was scarred for someone beside myself, I didn't know you, but I didn't want you to die. So I jumped in after you. I pulled you out, the blades of the fan had cut my back in many places, but I didn't care, I pulled you out and set you under a tree. You weren't moving; there was nothing I could do. I didn't know what to do, there were a few people running towards us screaming, they grabbed you and were shouting at me and looking around hissing for my parents. Then they took you and got in a car and drove off. I didn't know what was happening I figured you were already dead, I cried and left."  
Jean nodded. "I remember that now, a couple days after that my friend was hit by a car and she died, that's what woke the powers inside of me."  
Professor Xavier nodded.  
Scott nodded. "That's why you were asking about her."  
"That's why I backhanded you." she said. "Because I had a feeling that this Jean everyone was talking about was the one I helped so long ago. I thought if she remembered me, maybe she could help me. It was a wild thought, it happened so long ago, but, I don't know," she shrugged and stood up. "Maybe I am just crazy."  
"Well, being crazy enabled you to find me."  
"But what can we do?" Oz asked. "I don't want to remember anything inside of me, it hurts too much. And I don't know what the potential of this information can do."  
"Well," Professor Xavier smiled. "We don't know what we can do to help Oz, but all of us are here."  
Oz looked Professor Xavier in the eyes. "All of you?"  
Rogue and Bobby walked into the church followed by every student at the school.  
"All of us." Logan made his way to the front.  
"But how?"  
"The only way we can," Logan said. "We fight."  
"Okay, I really do appreciate this you guys, but this is my war."  
"War?" Professor Xavier asked. "You're right, this is a war, a war to save your mind and possibly every mutant everywhere."  
Oz sighed. "Fine, then how shall we fight them Professor? Pick their brains? Scratch them?" she looked at Logan.  
"What we need is a plan." Scott said.  
"Well not shit Cyclops."  
Scott looked over at her.  
"Oz,"  
"I'm sorry Professor, but this isn't just any old mutant we are dealing with, this is Degas, and true, I don't remember her all that well, but the way she spoke last time I saw her. It brought out every demon I ever dreamt about, it brought back shadows and horrors I never want to deal with."  
"Oz," Professor Xavier started. "We are going to help you, whether you like it or not."  
Oz nodded. "Now that's more like it. Be more forceful Professor, it makes you look young again."  
He sighed and shook his head.  
"Okay, Scott was right, we need a plan, we need to know where she is, who she is with, we need to get her around all of us then we all need to attack her and whoever else she is with and we need to win."  
"That's a straight forward plan." Scott remarked.  
"I know do you have anything more elaborate?"  
"No."  
"All right then, Professor, can you use Cerebro?"  
"Yes."  
"Good."  
  
They returned to the mansion and after the use of Cerebro they discovered that Degas was at Albuquerque ransacking Oz's old apartment.  
"Good thing I moved out." Oz remarked. "Okay, we need to get them to a secluded spot. It has to be populated and I have to have a reason to be there, otherwise she'll know something is up."  
"Don't you think we should have more information about her before we continue?" Scott suggested.  
Oz sighed. "You're right, we do." She turned to Jean then to the Professor. "Professor, can you look into my mind and pick out Degas from my past? Just Degas?"  
"Yes." He nodded and she crouched down beside him. "Just, relax."  
It was like a pipe burst in her mind; everything about Degas came sweeping in. Degas was her cousin, and at first she was her friend, but after Oz had escaped the first time, without the Marauder's help, they turned on her, considered her a traitor though she had escaped to find a place for all of them to live. It wasn't Jake who found out the truth about them, it was Oz and it appeared that the Marauder's already knew about it.  
When she escaped they were sent after her, they were the ones who caught her, they were the ones to torture her and close her mind. After that they were the one's who beat her, they were the ones who poisoned her, they were the ones to lock information inside her brain.  
Professor Xavier gasped at all he saw, Oz ripped away clutching her head. She screamed and teleported away. 


	7. Prelude to War

Seven  
  
This time Imperfect By: AFI  
  
I cannot leave here I cannot stay Forever haunted, more than afraid Asphyxiate on words I would say. I'm drawn to the blackened sky, as I turn blue There are no flowers, no, not this time. There will be no angels gracing the lines, Just these stark words I find I'd show a smile but I'm too weak I'd share with you could I only speak Just how much this hurts me I cannot stay here I cannot leave Just like all I loved, I'm make-believe Imagined heart, I disappear Seems no one will appear here and make me real There are no flowers, no, not this time There will be no angels gracing the lines Just these stark words I find I'd show a smile but I'm too weak I'd share with you, could I only speak Just how much this hurts me I'd tell you it haunts me Cuts through my day and sinks into my dreams You don't care that it haunts me There are no flowers, no, not this time There will be no angels gracing the lines Just these stark words I find I'd show a smile but I'm too weak I'd share with you could I only speak Just how much this hurts me. Just how much this hurts me. Just how much you.  
  
**** **** **** **** **** ****  
  
Oz sat under the pavilion's wooden roof. She listened to her CD player as it played AFI full blast. The rain pour all around, like a gray veil over her world. The music pounded her out of her mind, keeping her new memories at bay as the devils played with the false images in her mind.  
This little town was called Aberdeen South Dakota. Oz stayed on Main Street, that's were most of the business was anyway. She rented an apartment at the Howard Johnson Inn above the Red Rooster Café, every morning she'd go downstairs and into the café for some coffee and breakfast, then it was out side and two blocks up to the park where she would sit in the pavilion and listen to music to drown away the memories. People walked by, families came out to play, life all around her seemed good but all the life inside of her seemed bad, and that destroyed her inside.  
  
**** **** **** **** **** ****  
  
"Professor, have you gotten anything from my sister?" Kurt asked one day after breakfast after everyone left the table.  
Logan stood outside in the hall listening.  
"No Kurt, I am sorry, she isn't using her powers, I'm in the dark about your sister Oz. Last I caught her she was transforming into human form outside of Chicago. She was traveling west on her motorcycle. She can be anywhere." Professor sighed. "I am sorry Kurt."  
"Can't we go find her? Degas could be looking for her now! She could be in trouble!"  
"There is nothing to help us look for her."  
"Professor," Kurt was close to crumbling in defeat. "There has to be something. something to help us get to her before Degas."  
"It's been almost three weeks Kurt, Degas is traveling North from Albuquerque slowly, she's in Wyoming right now."  
"Can't you channel through her to see if she knows where Degas is?"  
"Kurt, we've been over this, I cannot do that I cannot channel through people like she can."  
Kurt lost his breath and teleported off.  
Logan leaned against the wall and thought for a long hard moment then ran upstairs.  
  
"Professor, have you seen Kurt?" Scott asked. "He wasn't at classes at all today."  
"Did you check his room? He is still worried about Oz."  
"Isn't there anything we can do?"  
"I'm afraid not."  
"Professor," Jean walked in. "Logan is gone."  
Professor closed his eyes. "Logan and Kurt took off."  
  
"Where will we start?" Kurt asked.  
"In Wyoming, I know someone there who might be able to help us locate Degas then maybe Oz."  
  
**** **** **** **** **** ****  
  
Oz turned off her CD player and looked around, the rain had stopped. She thought for a moment then stood up and ran back to her hotel room. She threw everything into her shoulder bag and ran out to her cycle. She climbed on and sped down the road to the gas station. She refueled and got on the pay phone.  
"Professor, it's me, Oz."  
"Oz, are Logan and Kurt with you?"  
"No, why would they be?"  
"They are looking for you. They left just yesterday morning. Where are you?"  
"Aberdeen South Dakota, it's been raining for days here, it just stopped and I got this notion that I am going to stop drowning myself in self pity."  
"Good to hear it."  
"I'm going to find Degas and settle this once and for all."  
"No! Oz, listen here, let us help you!"  
"No Professor, this is my war."  
"At least let Kurt and Logan help you."  
"Okay, If you can get a hold of them, tell them I am going to find Degas and I'm going to end this, they can help, anyone can help if they can get there in time."  
"Oz, just wait-"  
"Good bye Professor." She smiled and hung up. She kept her hand on the phone handle for a moment. "Here, I'll help you out Professor, go to Cerebro, and I'll give you a hint as to my whereabouts in three hours."  
Professor Xavier caught her thought through the phone, then he hung up and looked over at Scott. "Get the X-Men ready Scott, Oz is going to reveal herself in three hours."  
Scott nodded and ran off.  
  
Oz revved her engine and sped off heading southwest. Wyoming, that was the vibe, that was the place to start. She opened her mind, reaching out for Degas; this was going to be one hell of a fight.  
  
*~* Okay, I know this is a lot shorter than what I usually have, but I have a killer headache and my muse just ran out on me again, damn that muse, I'll have to write about him. Well, coming up in the next chapter is the fight scene; will Kurt and Logan make it on time? What did the dream mean in chapter Four? Perhaps all will unfold in chapter eight, perhaps it will only end in some big mystery. I really don't know. I have to go now and find my muse and staple him to the wall that way I can finish this story and see what happens. Uh, what the hell does "Mary Sueish" mean? Oh, and as for problems with Oz, her problems stand as is: she cannot remember anything about her past - well, she can now - and she has a tendency to pass out a lot. Not very good I know, that's why I said I am not a good writer, but I am working on it! Give me some slack, this is my first fan fic. but you probably figured that out already huh? Okay, I am off. Does anyone have a cigarette? No, I should quit, all right, I am gone. Thanks for reading, a rose for your tyme @---- *~* 


	8. So it begins

Eight 

    She looked over her shoulder, Degas was in the jeep right behind her, and Logan was right behind the jeep. This chase started out just south of Cheyenne, Wyoming and now they were speeding by the four corners area. They last stopped in Denver when Oz lost them in the city and was able to refuel before shooting off again.

    The desert highway was long and empty. The moon looked full though it couldn't have been. The desert land seemed to cast its own midnight light from the sand. The jeep closed in, the speeds were reaching well over a hundred Oz looked over her shoulder again and sped out of the jeep's range. She made it over a bridge before Oz muttered a curse, pulled a u-turn and stopped. The jeep screeched to a halt, Logan and Kurt sped past the jeep and joined Oz.

    "Oz!" Kurt called out. "What are you doing?"

    "This ends here Kurt." She said, revving her engine. Degas grinned from her jeep, Toby sat next to her and she revved the jeep's engine.

    "Oz, we can teleport back to the mansion and-"

    "And what Kurt? Wait for them to get us there?"

    "Professor can help us out Oz." Logan said.

    "Help us out how? By getting his precious X-Men killed for my shit? I don't think so Logan."

    "Why do you oppose his help?"

    "Why is your ego so damn big?"

    He blinked. "Fair enough."

    "Oz, if you fight now, we'll never be together."

    "Together?" Logan asked.

    "Hey Logan," Oz looked over at him. "That night when I transformed into my true self, why did you walk away?"

    Logan looked at her. "Because I remembered who you were."

    Oz arched an eyebrow. "I might be psychic, but I cannot read your mind right now, please explain."

    "Remember Degas said we knew each other?"

    "Yes."

    "Well, before all this adamantium was put into my body I worked with Col. William Stryker and we worked on mutant spies… we worked on you."

    Oz nodded. "I see."

    "I felt bad, seeing you in your true form, that triggered something and I got a rush of my memory back. I was a little furious with myself, not to notice that it was you before hand. And… and to fall in-"

    Degas gunned it; she peeled out of her spot on the bridge and rushed towards Logan, Kurt and Oz. Oz shouted something then peeled out, rushing into a head-on fight and possibly a head-on death.

    At the last moment Oz jumped off her cycle and was catapulted toward the jeep. Degas stood up, abandoning the steering wheel to Toby who lunged over to grab it. Degas raised her hands and shot out a billowing flamethrower towards Oz whop landed on the jeep's hood narrowly missing the flames. She extended her claws and ripped through the windshield and tore into Degas's legs. Degas screamed and threw a fireball down; Oz dove into the back of the jeep leaving the fireball to collide with Toby's face. Degas turned around and dove after Oz who teleported out of the jeep and landed on the shoulder of the road. 

    Degas jumped out of the jeep, she hit the shoulder of the road and rolled to a stop. Logan and Kurt drove around the wild jeep and parked their cycle in a ditch then ran out to help Oz who was now in a standoff with Degas.

    "You can't kill me Oz." Degas sneered. "I'm invincible."

    "What the bloody fuck ever." Oz smiled and lunged out claws extended. She moved to slash Degas in the stomach but Degas sidestepped and kneed Oz in the gut. Oz fell to the ground, rolled away from Degas who brought her heel down to crush her windpipe and jumped up, slashing Degas in the thigh. Degas yelped and sent several fireballs toward her. Oz stood paralyzed in the path of the fireballs.

    Kurt appeared, grabbed her and teleported to Logan's side. Oz turned and looked over at Degas who looked over her shoulder and grinned wider.

    "It doesn't matter where you go Oz, I've locked onto you, I got you in here." She tapped her temple. "I've been working on my telepathic powers for some time now, they are not very strong, but they can track you, and right now, all that matters are all the little children." She laughed and walked off to the jeep. Toby was rubbing his face when Degas jumped into her jeep and sped off.

    "All the little children?" Logan asked.

    Kurt shrugged. "What was she talking about Oz?"

    Oz widened her eyes and her jaw dropped. "Shit, she was the one who gave me those nightmares."

    "What?"

    "That night they found me!"

    "What are you talking about?"

    Oz turned to Kurt. "I had a nightmare that night Jean and Degas had me, I dreamt… shit we have to get back to the school now!"

    "Oz!" Logan grabbed her. "What is going on?"

    "She's going to murder everyone at the school!"

    ****     ****     ****     ****     ****     ****

    Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Jean and Storm patrolled the school premises. Professor Xavier could feel the anger coming, but in what form he wasn't sure.

    The clock chimed three; it was the darkest hour of the night when the shadow slid onto the school grounds. They crept around and slid into the mansion and into the halls. They stalked along the walls, sinking into the shadows when a strange sound alarmed them. 

    They scouted the premises, graphing whereabouts of the X-Men. They regrouped in the front and assembled a plan then she slinked off back into the shadows and back into the mansion.

    Oz, Kurt and Logan scaled the wall and snuck into the mansion.

    "Logan, you take the second floor corridor, get the kids out of here if you can, Kurt, you take the lower levels, and I'll stay here."

    "Shouldn't we warn the Professor?"

    "If you find him Kurt warn him." Oz nodded and slid off.

    Logan nodded and snuck upstairs; Kurt gulped and made his way to the lower levels.

    Oz paused by a corner. Someone was waiting on the other side of the corner they had heard her and she them. She extended her claws slowly and in a rush spun around the corer claws raised to kill.

    Storm gasped and stumbled a step back. "Oz."

    "Shh." Oz said looking Storm in the eye.

    "Oz what are you doing back here?"

    "What the hell are you doing here?" Oz questioned.

    "What are you talking about?"

    Oz punched her in the jaw, her claws retraced fast enough so she didn't cut into her cheek. Storm fell back against the wall and transformed back into Mystique.

    "So, you knew it was me?"

    Oz glared at her. "What are you doing here Mystique?"

    "I've come to protect you like I always have."

    "Always have- ha!" she said in a low voice. "You were never there to help me, you were never there to save me."

    "I have recently."

    "Recently, what about all those times when I was at Wayside Manor? You never helped me there."

    "I couldn't."

    Logan came running down the stairs and skidded to a stop right behind Oz. "Mystique!"

    Mystique blew a kiss to him.

    "What the fuck?" Logan moved closer.

    Oz pushed Logan back. "You were never there for me mother, so go away."

    "Mother?" Logan asked.

    Mystique smiled at him.

    "You never cared." Oz grunted and walked past her.

    "I just saved your life from a shadow that was waiting for you right here Oz, the least you could do is thank me."

    Oz spun around. "I've fended for myself for this long, what makes you think I couldn't deal with a shadow?"

    Mystique arched and eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. "I am still your mother-"

    "Screw that." Oz turned and walked off.

    Mystique turned back to Logan.

    "I don't have time for this." He said and walked off after Oz.

    Mystique smiled and jogged off for the lower levels.

    "Oz, I got the kids out, well, most of them."

    "Most of them?"

    "Some of them weren't in their beds, I couldn't find them."

    "Because they are here." Professor Xavier wheeled around the corner with about ten people following. "They are here to fight."

    Rogue, Bobby, Jean, Scott, Storm, Kevin, Kitty, John was back along with Magneto and another girl Oz never met before.

    "Oz, this is Jubilee she has the ability to energy, and raw energy and create energy blasts."

    Oz took a step forward then stopped and spun around. Kurt was running toward her, he skidding to stop in her arms.

    "Kurt!"

    "There are hundreds of them downstairs!" he shouted. "Mystique is down there now fighting them!"

    "Mystique?" Professor Xavier asked and looked up at Magneto. "I thought you said she didn't come with you."

    "She didn't." he said. "You do know Charles, that Oz and Kurt here are _her_ children."

    Some people gasped, others nodded just now noticing the similarities. 

    "She's our mother?" Kurt asked looking at Oz.

    "Yeah," Oz nodded. "She is." Oz let her brother go and ran off.

    "Oh, okay." He said and ran after her.

    Oz made it to the lower levels; Mystique lay in a heap by the elevator door. Oz crouched down and looked her over.

    "Mystique," she whispered. "Hey."

    "She won't wake."

    Oz looked up and saw Degas and Toby.

    "What did you do to her?"

    "Don't worry, your precious mother isn't dead."

    "She isn't precious." Oz hissed rising to her feet. Kurt appeared next to her and looked down at Mystique.

    "You know, I have gone through a great deal just to kill you Oz, you have put me through so much trouble and you don't even remember the whole thing." Degas smiled.

    "I know enough to kill you Degas, you betrayed me!"

    "Wrong!" Degas went straight faced. "It was you who betrayed us! It was you who ran away and it was you who got all of us beaten for your dumb actions!"

    "No," she shook her head. "I ran way to find a place for us, you know that!"

    "We knew what we were doing, you were the one in the dark. We didn't care that we were killing people."

    "They were innocent!"

    "There is no such thing as innocent people Oz! You should know that by now."

    "You're wrong Degas, what about all the kids here? They are innocent."

    "Innocent my ass, they are run a ways, they have all committed some crime before they ended up here at this-"

    "Haven."

    "Prison." She smiled. "Correct facility."

    "Degas."

    "You still don't know anything do you Oz? There is no safe place for you in this world Oz, but I can protect you."

    "Fuck that!" she screamed. "You'd kill of this information. I know you would! I know what Toby can do, he can read minds-dead minds!"

    Degas looked over at Toby. "That is true, but you don't even know what is in you mind Oz."

    "I don't care, if you are willing to kill me over it, maybe you shouldn't have it."

    "I'll get it one way or another!" Degas shrieked and whipped a rope of fire over her head and lashed it out at Oz.

    "Grab Mystique!" Oz ordered Kurt. He spun around but saw no one.

    "She's not here."

    Oz turned, grabbed Kurt and teleported out of the way of the rope.

    "You cannot hide from me Oz!"

    They appeared on the main floor. Oz looked over at Kurt and smiled weakly.

    "I can't fight her."

    "You have to."

    "Kurt, I'm afraid!" she lowered her head. "I don't know if this is worth fighting for."

    Kurt wrapped his arms around his sister in a hug. "I am here to help you fight, it _is_ worth fighting for I assure you."

    She turned in his arms and hugged him back. Logan ran into the room and froze. "Sorry if I am disturbing you two, but we have a problem."

    Oz let go of Kurt and walked over the door. She peered outside and saw a dozen pair of red eyes floating in the shadows.

    "What the fuck are those?" She asked then it dawned on her. "Damn it. We have to get out of here you guys, we have to fight this war somewhere else."

    "But where?" Kurt asked.

    "We have to lured them out of here, and into the forest." Her tail wrapped around Kurt's arms and pulled him closer. "Take the back way out and meet me in the forest. Lured as many as you can out, if you find Mystique get her to help you." she kissed him on the cheek. "And be safe Kurt."

    He returned the kiss and ran off.

    Logan looked at her. "Got a new boyfriend?"

    Oz sighed and turned to look at him. "Shit!" she whipped around to see a shadow had taken form, a tall figure wrapped in a black cloak. It held a dagger the blade was bloody. She felt her back, the wound was deep, but closing fast. She extended her claws and punched the shadow square in the jaw. It shrieked and fell to the floor. She swiped at it, cutting its head off in one clean swipe.

    She turned back to Logan, "Hurry up, lured them into the forest!" she ran out of the room, the shadows tried to overwhelm her but she attacked them and was able to squirm out of the heap, down the hall and out into the forest.

    They turned to Logan who arched an eyebrow at them all then ran out of the window.

    Oz skidded to a halt under an oak tree and caught her breath. She looked up at the starry sky and muttered a silent prayer.


	9. Battle

Nine 

    "So, you are our mother?" Kurt asked Mystique.

    "Yes." She said tonelessly. 

    "Not a very good one at that." Oz muttered.

    "I tried, it is not my fault that your father took you away from me."

    "Oh, no, even if he didn't you would have set me up for adoption."

    "I couldn't keep you!"

    "Shush." Oz said and looked around the tree. The shadows were close; some of them stopped and looked in her direction then continued on in their search.

    "You father took you before I even knew I had given birth to twins. I only saw Kurt and I knew I couldn't keep him, all with my work and I had no money. I figured putting him up for adoption would be the best thing for him."

    "Then how did you hear about me?" Oz asked still looking around the tree for anything moving closer.

    "When your father died I got a letter explaining everything, how he had stolen you and left me and what he did to you."

    Oz's breath caught, she spun around and looked at Mystique. "So you know what is in my head?"

    "Yes," she nodded. "When I found out I swore that I would find you and destroy the information in your mind. I thought the professor could help me with that, but I work with Magneto and going to Professor Xavier wouldn't have been to his liking. So I told Magneto that I wanted to find my children again."

    "And?"

    "Well, he asked why so I told him that one of my children was harboring the plan for the next apocalypse. He said it would be good if it got loose, maybe it would kill all the humans. Then I explained that it was mutants planning it to kill the rest of the mutants. He didn't really like that, so he came here to talk to Professor Xavier and see if he could find you. But you've been and he didn't know where you were, so I left to find you. Professor Xavier told me that Degas, the one after you was in Wyoming, so I went there and I fought her, then she caught your vibe and headed off. I tried to follow but I had a better idea, I'd come back here, surely the fight would wind up here sooner or later. So I did. And here you are."

    Oz arched and eyebrow. "Wow."

    "Don't say that."

    "Wow." Oz said defiantly.

    "I am still your mother."

    "So what? The end of the world is developing in my brain, there are hundreds of shadows trying to find me, some crazy psycho bitch is out to kill me so her screw boy can read my dead mind and get everything out. I just found out that I am a twin some odd days ago, that my mother is some crazy person who's husband stole me and oh! I'm bound to die sometime tonight! Yes, be my mother in my last hours, I need the solace."

    "Don't take that tone with me young woman-"

    "I'm twenty one Mystique, I've made it this far without you, I think I can make it the rest of my life without you. Thanks anyway." Oz raised her hand for silence. She looked up slowly, a shadow jumped down on top of her; it ripped out a saber and thrusted down into her abdomen. Oz yelped in pain, Mystique spun in a high kick, hitting the shadow in the neck, and throwing it off Oz. Kurt ran to Oz and pulled the saber out of her.

    "Damn." Oz spat. "That hurt."

    "Let's talk later." Mystique said slowly.

    "Well no shit Sherlock!" Oz shouted rubbing her gut. She looked up and saw that they were surrounded by the shadows. "Oh, damn."

    They charged, Kurt disappeared as well as Oz and they teleported in amongst the shadows throwing punches, kicks, Kurt use the saber and slashed out at the shadows, Oz use her claws and decapitated as many as she could teleport in front of. Mystique jumped in among them and fought them as best she could.

    The shadows retreated, some were laughing and cheering. Oz ripped her claws out of ones chest just as someone screamed. Oz looked up at Mystique who looked over at Kurt. Another scream ripped through the nighttime air. They looked around, more screams, like a group of people. 

    Oz ran through a forest, Kurt ran after her trying to call her back. The shadows ran beside her, in front of her, behind her, they chanted her name, they chanted words of malice and words that brought fear to her heart. Kurt called to her more furiously, his voice full of worry and concern. Oz tripped on some roots. The shadows closed in, they had weapons, weapons she had never seen before, things from an alien race used to probe and pick and torture… she screamed. Kurt appeared with his saber, he challenged them and threatened them, they took steps back then stopped and assessed the situation then they again began to close in. he turned then to her, grabbed her with his tail and pulled her into his arms and they teleported away.

    They appeared in the mansion. She looked around but there was no one there. They ran around to the different rooms, but there was no trace of anyone. She ran outside to the front, the lawn was covered with bodies. Everyone who lived at the mansion was on the ground, blood covered them, the war had broken out on the steps of this school, and they had caught Professor Xavier and the other X-Men off guard. Mystique and Logan had run to the school grounds from the forest they looked down and gasped. Oz wheeled around to see where Kurt had gone, there was a blinding white light, she could hear Logan screaming her name, and then, something dug itself into her stomach. The pain was a searing white light, like the one she was starring into. And all the while Logan was screaming her name, she could hear him trying to get to her, but the shadows where there, they were fighting Logan, Mystique and Kurt, and the pain of her stomach made her feel as if she was falling.

    She could hear Degas laughing; she heard the front door of the mansion slam shut.

    "Finally, I got you and you are dying."

    "Oh," Oz was on the ground, the white light was fading, it blurred into more colors, and the interior of the mansion came back into view.

    Degas stood with shades, Jubilee stood next to her, her eyes were glazed over, her hand outstretched toward Oz, and white lights were circling her.

    Degas looked over at Jubilee. "Oh, no, it's not what you think Oz, she's not really betraying the Professor. One, he's dead, and two, she's dead."

    Jubilee crumbled to the ground, Toby was holding her up and channeling through her using his power to use her power.

    "Hello." Toby smiled down at her.

    "Oh, this hurts." Oz looked down, she was bleeding like there was no tomorrow, and hey, she thought, from this point of view I don't think there is.

    "You are finally dying!" Degas cheered.

    Oz pushed herself up off the ground. "Fuck dying, I don't have time to die."

    Degas stopped and starred at Oz intently. "I killed you. Jubilee is the only one who could kill you, Professor told her so."

    "Did he?" Oz coughed hard, she spat out blood.

    Degas turned to Toby who raised his hands in defense. "Hey, that's what he told her! That's what I picked up from her mind."

    "Idiots!" Oz laughed. "Of course he'd tell her that! Because he knew that you'd kill everyone and look into her mind and see it. Professor isn't a-" she coughed again. "Dumbass like you two." She spat out more blood.

    "Looks like you're dying from here." Degas smirked.

    "Well maybe I am, but before I do," she threw her arms down, her claws shot out and she glared evilly at Degas and Toby. "I have to kill you." she teleported behind Toby, she thrusted her claws through the back of his rib cage ripping his heart into three pieces. He screamed and she teleported behind Degas who spun around and shot a flamethrower in Oz's face. Oz yelped and teleported to the other side of Degas. She brought her claws down over Degas's shoulder, cutting the clavicle apart. Degas's arms fell but clung to her body by the skin of the armpit.

     Degas screamed and whipped her other hand around, she dug her fingernails in Oz's right shoulder and surged through Oz's skin a large fireball. Oz ripped to get away; she brought her claws up, slashing Degas across the face.

    Oz dug at her chest and felt the fireball sizing down. She curled her shoulders in and collapsed to her knees. She brought her arms up over her chest and the fireball died.

    Oz jumped up, slashed Degas across the chest, spun around and kicked her in the side sending Degas flying across the hall and smashing into the large grandfather clock. She ran over to her and pounded her fists and claws under Degas's ribcage aiming up. Then she ripped them out and dug them into her chest, ripping her chest cavity open and pulling out her heart.

    Degas made a final attempt to set Oz on fire, but the fireball miss Oz's face and hit the heart that was skewered on Oz's claws.

    Degas crumbled to the ground as Oz watched the heart burn, the muscle quivered and sizzled, making it look like it was still beating, but Oz knew that it wasn't and that Degas Oso was dead.

    Everything around her was very dim. She looked around the mansion; echoes could be heard and seen. Oz saw little kids running around the mansion hall, a bright yellow and white light shone around them. They weren't really there she realized, these were echoes, like ghosts. The heart was gone, her claws retraced and she collapsed to her knees clutching her stomach. It was still pierced where Toby channeling through Jubilee had struck her with an energy blast.

    She fell on her face, her eyes fluttered and tears slowly came out. No more would this place be full of laughing kids, arguing teachers, advising professors. No more would this place be a haven for mutant kids to grow and learn and develop. No more… would anything exist here.

    Someone came crashing through the front door. She could barely see them… a lot of them… hundreds of them? Her eyes fluttered closed, people were crying, someone screamed her name and tried to shake her awake.

    Five more minutes, she thought, I just need to sleep some more.__


	10. Sing the Sorrow, Epilogue

Ten  
  
The Leaving Song by: AFI Walked away, heard them say "Poisoned hearts will never change. Walk away again" Turned away in disgrace Felt the chill upon my face cooling from within It's hard to notice gleaming from the sky When you're staring at the cracks Hard to notice what is passing by with eyes lowered You walked away, heard them say "Poisoned hearts will never change. Walk away again" All the cracks will lead right to me And all the cracks will crawl right through me And I fell apart as I walked away, heard them say "Poisoned hearts will never change" Walked away again turned away in disgrace Felt the chill upon my face cooling from within  
  
**** **** **** **** **** ****  
  
Oz walked away from the mansion and into the woods. The skies were darker then midnight and the rain had been pouring for three days.  
"Storm needs to keep her emotions in check." Oz smiled.  
"Can she help it?" a voice asked behind her.  
Oz spun around. "Logan? What are you doing here?"  
"I came after you, I want to know what the hell you are doing out here. Why are you making everyone cry?"  
"Why are they crying over me?"  
"They think you are dead."  
"I am not." She said simply. "I am just, out of order for a little while."  
"What do you mean?" Logan leaned against a tree.  
"I mean," she smiled and raised her tang top high enough for him to see her abdomen. It was bandaged and blood seeped through. "I was skewered by Toby working through Jubilee and I am still not healed."  
"But you should go tell them that you are alive."  
"Why?"  
"Because you are what brought them all back to life Oz." He said pointing at the mansion. "Everyone there is alive because of you."  
"But how?" she asked looked back over at the school. "How? What did I do that brought them back to life?"  
"I don't know." He shrugged.  
"So maybe it wasn't me. Maybe it was someone else."  
Logan shook his head. "The Professor is convinced that it was you. That something about your death triggered something, a time rift or something like that I don't know. But you brought them back to life."  
"There is no proof to prove that it was me."  
"There is no proof to prove that it wasn't you Oz." Logan pointed out. "You mother is in there crying as we speak."  
Oz sighed. "She might have given me life, but."  
"But what Oz?"  
"But she is not my mother."  
"How can you say that?"  
"Because. I have an ego bigger then yours."  
Logan sighed. "Damn, am I this stubborn?"  
"You have no idea." She smiled at him. "So, you know that I am alive."  
"I smelled cedar and sage and knew that you were around. So who did we bury at the funeral this morning?"  
"Me, I played possum." She smiled. "And teleported out of there later." She turned and looked at him. "Look, I told you, this isn't my home, I don't belong here."  
"And where do you belong?"  
Kurt appeared. "Logan," he wiped the tears from his eyes but didn't look up. "Professor says he wants to talk to you."  
"Kurt." Logan said.  
Kurt looked up and gasped. "Oz?"  
Oz shrugged. "Hello brother."  
"Brother?" Logan asked.  
"What. I thought. how'd you?"  
"Shh." She walked over to him and smiled. "I am alive." She said and hugged him. "But," she pulled back. "I don't belong here, so I am going to leave."  
"Leave to where?" He asked.  
"Brother?" Logan asked again.  
Oz smiled over at Logan. "Yes, Kurt is my twin brother and our mother is Mystique. Is there a problem Logan?"  
"I thought you two were,"  
"That's why it is not safe to assume. It makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'."  
Logan shook his head and gave her a smirked smile. "So you are not dating anyone?"  
"Not at the moment, no."  
He grabbed her and pulled her into a long deep kiss.  
Kurt leaned back on a tree and smiled. "So, where are we going?"  
Oz leaned back but stayed in Logan's arms. "I don't know, I was thinking Hawaii."  
"Hawaii?" Logan asked.  
"Why not?" Oz asked.  
"Hawaii it is then." Logan nodded.  
Kurt grabbed both of their arms and they teleported away. 


End file.
